


The Middle Of Nowhere

by orphan_account



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-22
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-07-10 18:50:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19910509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Mac and Riley are stranded in the middle of nowhere, and with Riley injured, will they manage to make it out of the woods?





	1. Chapter 1

"Riley! Riles, can you hear me?"

_Footsteps slapped against the earth..._

"Riley? Come on, please…"

_Falling, falling to the ground..._

"Please Riles. Please."

_Pain, pain to her head._

She felt her body being lifted and carried away from her landing position. But she couldn't tell who was carrying her. Or where they were taking her.

A sharp pain in her ankle jerked her back into reality and it came back to her slowly. Guys with guns. Men trying to hurt her and…

She kicked out at the person carrying her, shoving them, trying to get them to put her down, to let go of her.

"Hey, Riley, stop! It's me." The voice said again. Her sore head couldn't place the voice.

"What…" she breathed, barely more than a whisper.

She was gently set on the ground. "Are you okay? Please Riles, don't do this to me. Jack'll never forgive me, I'll never forgive myself."

She slowly opened her eyes. The colours came back to her, bright, vibrant. They hurt her eyes and she blinked, looking away. A soft hand reached out and took her hand, squeezing it gently. She opened her eyes to look at the person. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Mac.

"You okay, Ri?" He asked in a low voice, scanning her body for any visible injuries.

"My head hurts. And my ankle. God my ankle hurts." She hissed. He immediately moved down to her ankle and moved it carefully. She cried out in pain.

"Yeah, I think you broke it but don't worry. I'll splint it for you later. Can you walk on it?" He asked.

"I think so."

"Good. We need to get out of here before those jerks get back."

He helped her up, Riley leaning heavily on Mac as she regained her balance.

"Woah." She said, wobbling slightly.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. I just feel a bit dizzy." She held up her hands in surrender as Mac looked at her in concern. "I'm okay! Honest."

"I think you might have a concussion. Come on, let's get out of here."

Riley nodded and gently put weight on her ankle. "I think it's good." Mac nodded and started walking. He turned around quickly as he heard a thump behind him.

Riley sat on the ground, her eyes shut in pain.

"Riley!"

"Yep. I'm good. I just can't walk on it." She smiled brightly.

Mac sighed. "Why are you always so positive?"

"I'm not! I just try to look at the bright side of things. No point being depressed about this stuff." She said with a grin.

He laughed. And then bent down. "It's a good thing-" he grunted as he picked her up. "-that you are so light."

"I can do it myself! You don't need to carry me!" Riley cried indignantly.

"You can't walk on that ankle, would you prefer to hop?"

Riley groaned. "It makes me feel so useless. But then again, my ankle hurts like hell. Beside," she said playfully. "I'm not light. You're just strong." Riley said as she looped her arms around his neck.

They started to walk through the trees. The forest was big and they had no idea where they were going. Mac looked at the sun and guessed that it would be about about four, maybe five. Dark soon. He started carrying Riley what he presumed was the northerly direction, picking his way through the trees. He had to find a good spot for them to camp for the night.

He looked down at Riley for a moment. She had her eyes closed and looked very peaceful, but she was still awake as every so often she would say something. The sun reflected off her dark hair and a bruise on the top of her head was starting to show. Her smile was soft and she leant into his chest as he walked, her head placed over his heart.

"What's up?" He jerked in surprise, his eyes quickly meeting her amused ones.

"Er, nothing. You feel okay?" He quickly said, a faint blush on his cheeks

Riley pouted, which through Mac's eyes made her look adorable. "Stop asking me that, I'm fine. Anyway, you were staring because..?"

"Uh, no reason." Mac's blush deepened and he quickly changed the subject. "Do you want to stop here for tonight? I can make a shelter out of these trees. That sound good?"

"In all honesty I'd prefer a hot water bottle in my own bed with the heater on, but this works." She shivered involuntarily.

"You're cold." Mac stated.

"No I'm not." Riley quickly said.

"You are wearing a singlet top and no jumper, plus you have goosebumps." Mac pointed out.

Now it was Riley's turn to blush. "Okay, fine, I'm a bit cold-" seeing Mac's expression she quickly carried on. "-but it doesn't matter, I'll live!"

He gently placed her down on the ground, leant up against a tree and propped her foot up on a nearby rock. He then placed his leather jacket around her shoulder, despite her protests.

"Stop arguing, Riles. Now stay there and rest, you can help me by getting better. I'll find some stuff to splint that ankle."

"But-"

"Nope."

"I can help-"

"No you can't, Ri."

"Please Mac! I need to help, I feel utterly useless." Riley cried, throwing her hands up in the air.

He paused for a minute and then chucked her a rock. A flint to be precise. "Can you start a fire with these branches here?"

Riley rolled her eyes. "I'm Riley, have we met? I'm an expert at starting fires."

"Why do I feel like there is a story behind that…" Mac trailed off. Riley opened her mouth. "You know what, I don't even want to know." She grinned and he felt himself start to smile.

\-----

A while later Mac finished building the shelter and foraging around for something edible to keep their strength up and he returned to the camp, his empty canteen from earlier that day now full of fresh water from a nearby stream. All was quiet as he approached the camp, a good sign that none of the gun men from earlier had found them.

As he entered the clearing, he came across a roaring campfire, carefully contained with stones Riley must have found, and a sleeping Riley. She had his jacket around her shoulder, swamping her small frame, and her breaths were slow and steady. He knew that she probably had a concussion, she hit her head pretty hard on the ground earlier, so she shouldn't be sleeping, but he'd only been gone about an hour, a few more minutes won't hurt, especially if he could splint her leg in that time and save her the pain.

He carefully moved around to Riley and picked up a few decently straight tree branches which he figured he could use to splint her leg. He then set to work, finally tying the splint in place with his shoelaces. He pulled her tight, evidently too tight as she jerked awake.

"Ow!" She cried, her face scrunched up in pain.

"Sorry Riles. I needed to splint that though. How do you feel?"

"You ask that way to much." She mumbled. Mac smirked. "To answer you question, I feel like crap."

"That much was to be expected…" he muttered. She wacked him lightly and he laughed, gently lifting her up and moving her over to the shelter, but keeping her close enough to still feel the heat off the fire.

She cautiously bit into some of the food he had found and pulled a face, taking a long sip of water.

"A meal fit for a king."

He smirked, eating a bit of his own. "There isn't any desert, sorry 'bout that. They were all out of chocolate cake."

Riley laughed, her voice high and soft, echoing through the trees around them. He smiled down at her.

"And to think that that was the thing I was most excited about." Riley pouted. Mac smirked.

They sat in silence for a moment and then Riley spoke up again. "What exactly happened earlier?"

Mac looked at her in concern. "You don't remember?"

"Not really. Bits of it but… not the whole thing."

"Well, we were going to meet Zac Etale and his gang like we arranged, you know, a friendly meeting to give them back the stuff we "borrowed" when we thought that they were responsible for the Parkes murders, right?" Riley nodded, she remembered that much of the day. "And when we got there, we went to hand them back the things, when we saw the other half of the necklace, you know, the one we found on Ida's body and were looking for, the one that they denied any knowledge of, around Zac's neck. You, being the not thinking before you act person that you are-" Riley snorted. "-decided to confront him straight up about it. And… well, then they all drew guns and tried to shoot you. You dodged but you fell off that ridge and hit your head pretty hard on the rock, you must have broken your ankle somewhere on the way down. Then you passed out, they assumed you were dead and rounded on me. They chased me pretty far through the forest until I climbed down a cliff, just far enough that they couldn't see me and they thought I'd fallen to my death. But they started heading down to the bottom of the valley to find me. It's a pretty big valley, it'll take them a while to discover that my body isn't there, and by that time, we can call Phoenix and get them to send some people in." Riley nodded. "Then I came back to where you were and… well, I thought you were dead. You were so still."

"But I wasn't dead."

"Nope. You're a survivor." Mac said with a laugh.

"Yep." Riley said, popping the 'p'.

Riley finished her "meal fit for a king" dinner and looked over at their makeshift shelter.

"Well, it's not exactly five star either, is it?" She said, gesturing at the campsite around them.

Mac snorted. "Yeah, but it's refreshing, you know, a change from the ordinary."

She lay down and put her head on his lap, looking up at the stars. He absentmindedly ran his fingers through her soft hair and she sighed.

"My grandfather once tried to teach me how to navigate via the stars. We went out on this big camping trip and he showed me each star and how it would help me. Then he sent me out on my own and told me to find my way back using the stars."

"And what happened?" Riley breathed, her eyes focused on the stars above her. Her eyes looked beautiful, the stars above reflecting off them. She literally had stars in her eyes.

"I got hopelessly lost, spent hours out there trying to read the stars. And then right as I finally figured it out, sort of, these clouds came over and covered the sky, I couldn't see the stars anymore."

Riley laughed softly. "My mum and I were never big on camping trips. We might have gone once or twice, with Jack, but he preferred more Bruce Willis marathons then sitting around in a tent in the cold."

"That's Jack for you."

"Yep."

Mac continued playing with Riley's hair, while she stared at the sky.

"Do you think Zac Etale and his gang will figure out that you didn't fall to your death soon?" Riley asked softly.

"Maybe. I'm just glad that you were only unconscious, not dead."

"I'm glad you're not dead, Mac. I honestly don't know what we would do without you. You keep the team running. When you were at the village with Nasha, the Mac and Jack codependency issues started to kick in, Bozer couldn't function without his bestie. You even cause Matty to briefly loose it. And your dad was beside himself."

"Yeah. But I'm back now and I'm not planning on ever leaving again."

"Promise?"

"Promise."


	2. Chapter 2

"Come on Riley, we need to go." Riley opened her eyes slowly as Mac gently shook her awake. 

"Morning." She yawned.

"Good morning to you too, but come on, we need to move. Can you try to make it look like we never had a fire here?" Mac said, pushing his blonde hair out of his eyes.

"Uh, yeah, why?" Riley asked, crawling over to the no longer burning fire pit.

"I heard a gun shot earlier." Riley froze and looked up at him, fear in her eyes. "Don't worry," Mac hastily said. "I don't think it's anything, but it probably means that they have realised I'm not dead."

Riley swallowed. "How long do you think we have?"

"A few hours." He reached out and touched her arm gently. "It'll be okay."

Riley felt her thoughts start to drift as she stared into his handsome blue eyes- she couldn't have thoughts like that, not now. And they were so obviously one sided… she shook her head to snap herself out of her daze.

"Okay." Riley snuck a look at Mac's face and was surprised to find a mix of emotions there, disappointment and... defeat? Was there even a slight change that he felt the same way about her? She shook her head. No chance.

\-----

About an hour later, Mac had dismantled the shelter and Riley had gotten rid of the evidence of the fire. She stood up, pulling herself to a standing position on a nearby tree. She slowly put weight on her ankle and was relieved when she could walk on it, slowly but surely.

"Okay Mac, I'm ready for us to get a move on." Riley slowly limped over to Mac. He put one arm around her shoulders and she leant heavily on him to take the weight off her broken ankle.

They started to head towards what Mac predicted was north when a shot rang out through the forest. They turned around, fear on both of their faces.

"Did that one seem closer than the last one you heard?" Riley spoke into the silence.

Mac didn't answer.

"Mac? Was it?" Riley turned to him.

Finally he spoke. "We need to move faster."

\-----

They ran through the trees, well, moved as fast as they could with Riley's ankle. Mac could tell that her ankle was bothering her more than she let on, but she didn't let it get in the way of their safety. She was so fierce, Mac thought. So strong.

"Still no comms?" Riley asked, looking up at Mac.

"No, the signal isn't strong enough. I'd make something to boost the signal, but-"

"We don't have enough time." Riley cut him off. He smiled down at her. "I could really do with some of Bozer's stupid jokes right about now."

Mac grinned. "Yeah. You know, Zac Etale's gang probably was responsible for the Parkes murders after all."

Riley raised her eyebrows at him. "You're just realising this?"

He blushed. "Well, I had other things on my mind."

"Yeah right." She muttered. He rolled his eyes at her.

"So if he had the other half of Ida's necklace, what does that mean? A relationship?" Mac steered the conversation back to the mission.

"Probably an abusive one. It would explain the bruises that we found hidden by makeup, and the ones on her arms." Riley frowned. Mac knew she was thinking about her dad and he squeezed her shoulder.

"So what, one day it just went too far? He killed her? Or do you think that he actually planned a murder?" Mac asked.

"How was she murdered again? Wasn't it a bash to the head?"

"Yep. So maybe she was hit and fell or he pushed her purposefully?" Mac put out a few possible ideas.

"Maybe. But she might have been moved from where we found her." Riley pointed out.

Mac nodded. "Yeah. We'll have to question Etale and his gang, after we get contact again with the Phoenix. Then they can question them."

"We can get Leanna onto it. Bozer said she was top in interrogation at spy school, didn't he?" Riley leant heavily on Mac to step over a large tree log.

"Yep. Or Matty, she's pretty scary when she wants to be."

"Who are you kidding, she's scary whether or not she wants to be." Mac chuckled.

"That's true."

They walked on in a comfortable silence for a few minutes. Mac stared down at Riley again, (he honestly couldn't help it) and saw that she was still having trouble walking on her ankle. Without hesitation, he bent down and picked her up, bridal style, and lifted her over a rough patch of rocks and branches, an area which would have been hard on her ankle.

"Mac!" Riley cried indignantly and wacked him on the shoulder to try and make him put her down.

"Riles, I can tell that ankle is still not easy to walk on, just let me help you!" Mac said. Riley groaned and wrapped her arms around him in defeat, resting her head against his chest.

Reaching the other side where the area was reasonably flat, he placed her down gently again, ignoring the cold that he felt without her body so close to his. He kept his arm around his shoulder in support and she leaned in eagerly. 

Another shot rang out, this one closer than the last two.

"They are gaining on us."

"Well, they are faster than us, they don't have a useless, injured person with them that they have to drag around with them." Riley stated.

Mac stared at her. "Ri, you are not a "useless, injured person". Trust me, you just being here helps me."

Riley stared up into his eyes again and held his stare, the two of them trapped in their own world. Their bubble was popped as more shot filled the air, followed by what sounded like an animal cry.

"They are hunting animals to eat, that probably means that they will stop to cook and eat so we should have a bit more time on our hands." Mac muttered, not willing to look away from her. She nodded mutely, but the moment was gone and they hurried on.

\-----

About an hour later Mac and Riley reached a large muddy area in the forest. To go through it would give away that they were alive, as their footprints would be left in it. To go around it would mean that they had to climb up one of the large hills surrounding the valleys which would not be easy on Riley foot and it would be really steep to climb.

"We must be close now." Mac muttered to himself.

"How are we going to go through? Then they'll know we are both still alive." Riley pointed out.

"We could go around?" Mac proposed.

"No, because if our footprints aren't in the mud, they will know that we went the other way." Riley stated.

Mac frowned, scanning the surrounding area. "Riley, they don't know that you are alive, right?"

"I guess…?" Riley raised her eyebrows at him. He had that 'i'm thinking, don't interrupt me' expression on.

"Then you can go and hide up in that cave over there." He pointed at the mouth of a nearby cave. It was mostly covered by trees, but Mac trained eyes easily picked it up. "I'll lead them off through here, and you can try to get enough signal to call the Phoenix. Then you can get them to send a team to pick up Etale and find me."

"But what about you? How will you keep them from catching you? There is a lot of them and only one of you, plus they are moving faster." Riley pointed out, worry clear on her face.

"I'll… I'll think of something. I always do." Mac smiled.

"No, I can't let you go on your own. What if something happened to you?" Riley tried to reason with him.

"I'll be fine. Don't worry about it." Riley wasn't convinced and Mac could tell.

"But…" Riley was struggling to think up another reason when a crackle of static and a burst of Bozer's voice came briefly over their comms. "Bozer!" 

No reply.

"Mac, we must be close, we are getting bursts of signal from here. Let me come with you."

"No. It's too dangerous." Mac stubbornly said.

"Then I don't want you going." Riley fought back.

"It could save your life."

"I don't want my life saved if it means they take yours." 

Mac stared at her, eyes wide. She stared back, her emotions clear in her eyes. Neither of them broke the stare and with no guns sounding in the distance, Mac felt himself close the short distance between then. His eyes closed and he bent his head down to her height, and gently their lips touched. It was soft and slow, both of them just testing the waters, exploring. Mac placed his hands on her waist and Riley's hands moved up to his neck, her fingers feeling through his hair. It was over far too quick for both their liking's as a voice filled their ears.

"Seriously guys? We get contact after 36 hours and that is what we hear? Pull it together." Matty's voice came over their comms and they jumped apart, blushing deeply, both their eyes on the forest floor.

"Uh, sorry Matty." Mac said his blush changing to a darker red.

They heard Matty sigh in exasperation on the other end and then Bozer spoke up. "Are you guys okay?"

"We're fine-" Riley started, but Mac cut her off.

"I'm fine, Riley has a broken ankle and I think a slight concussion."

"What happened?" Bozer cried from the other end of the comms.

"Well-"

"They can answer that later." Matty cut Mac off. "I've sent a SWAT team and exfil to your location. I need you to get something to track Etale. Mac, I trust you can do that?"

"Uh, yeah. Probably." He added as an afterthought. Riley rolled her eyes.

"Good. I'll be back in a minute, I have some calls to make. Everyone out." Matty said and a sound of many footsteps filled their comms.

A minute later it was silent again.

Mac spoke up. "Uh, Boze?"

"Yeah?"

"Is it just you on that end?"

"Uh huh. What's up?"

"Er, how many people heard us...?"

There was a long pause from the Phoenix end before Bozer answered Mac's question. "About 20 people, plus half of the SWAT team."

Riley cringed. Mac groaned. "Oh no." He muttered.

Bozer snorted.

"Hey don't laugh at us!" Riley cried.

Bozer stopped laughing. "I'm not. I'm happy for you, honest. Matty owes me 20 bucks cause I bet you two would get together before Christmas!"

"Why were you betting on us?" Riley sounded kind of scary.

"Um, well, Matty started it…" Bozer backtracked quickly. Before Riley could speak again, he spoke. "I'll leave you two to it, somehow get a tracking device on Etale's gang and exfil will be there in half an hour, don't do anything I wouldn't do!" He cried, his voice disappearing from the comms.

Mac and Riley looked at each other.

"Um, well…"

"Uh, yeah…"

"Talk later?" Mac asked awkwardly.

"Yep." Riley quickly agreed and they smiled briefly at each other.

"We need some way to track them until exfil gets here." Mac said, turning to Riley. "Any ideas?"

Riley swallowed. "Um," she pulled a tiny black button off her watch and placed it in Mac's palm. "This was Billy's, he used it on the mission in Paris," she saw Mac's eyes darken at the mention of that mission, the mission that had caused Riley so much pain. "I took it back after, but it's a listening device. Sticks to any surface and connects to a program on my laptop. Bozer still knows the password, I told him after for times like this, and then he can listen in. But it also doubles as a tracking device, I added that after with Bozer at the Phoenix. The biggest issue will be getting it onto one of Etale's gang members."

"I think I have an idea for that, but first, we need to make it look like we went through this mud. I'll go through so that there is only one set of footsteps," he carried on quickly, seeing that Riley was about to argue. "But I'll carry you, that way there will only be one set of footsteps. On the other side we can climb up when of those trees, you can't see up them from the ground, and we can somehow get this," he held up Billy's device. "On them as they pass."

Riley nodded. "Sounds good, hope it works." 

He picked her up bridal style again, hoping to God that she didn't feel how fast his heart was beating. She didn't point it out but he had a feeling she felt it. He slowly stepped out through the mud, carefully and reverently holding Riley in his arms.

When they reached the other side, he placed her on a low branch of one of the trees and she started to climb up. He then made sure that his footsteps in the mud led through a narrow path, so that you had no choice but to step on a log to get over it. Mac then placed the device down in the centre of the log, face up do that it would stick to one of the gangs shoes if they stepped on it. There was a fifty-fifty chance that this could work, they might all just step over it. Hopefully it would work, otherwise he would have to come up with a plan b. 

Mac then carefully retraced his footsteps, walking backwards so that he only left one set of footprints in the mud. He climbed up the tree and sat down next to Riley. She leaned her head against his shoulder and shut her eyes, probably tired from getting hardly any sleep, Mac hadn't let her sleep that long due to her possible and probable concussion. 

\-----

About half and hour later, the first of Etale's men came into the clearing. 

"Look, footprints!" Goon one called, pointing at Mac's footsteps.

"Let me see." Etale pushed his way to the front of the crowd. "Definitely the boys, and look, only one set of footprints, what does that mean?"

"I dunno." Goon two said.

"Is it a trick question?" Goon three whispered.

"Probably. He likes trick questions." Goon two whispered back.

"Idiots. It means his girlfriend is dead." Etale exclaimed.

"Oh." Goon three nodded in understanding.

"I don't get it. Is it a riddle?" Goon four asked, scratching his head.

Etale groaned and headed through the mud following Mac's footsteps. "The boy was too stupid to cover his tracks. Novice."

"Yeah, novice." Goon one echoed.

"What does novice mean?" Goon three whispered to goon one.

"Do I look like I know?" Goon one hissed back.

"Just shut up and follow me!" Etale continued to follow the footprints. 

Mac held his breath as he walked over the log, stepping straight over the device. Goon two did, so did goon three, goon four did as well, but goon one planted his foot right in the middle. Mac let out his breath and relaxed back against the tree branch, one arm around Riley's waist.

"Ooh, look at the cute bear!" Goon four exclaimed, and the exclamation was quickly followed by a scream as the said bear most likely started to chase Etale and his gang.

Riley opened her eyes and leaned up to look at Mac. He grinned down at her.

"Are the comms deactivated this time?" Riley asked, a smile on her face.

Mac pressed his comm to deactivate it. "Yep. Riley, will you go out with me?"

"Of course, took you long enough to finally ask..." Riley teased

Mac smirked. "Now where were we…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way, this story was probably set sometime after the season 3 finale, but Desi was somewhere else (on a holiday?? I don't know). Hope you enjoyed :)

**Author's Note:**

> Heads up, I have no idea how to splint a broken ankle or anything about concussions, this all came from the internet, sorry if any of it is wrong. Please review, I love your comments :)


End file.
